Display wrapper



Sept. 18, 1956 L. R. SCHUMANN DISPLAY WRAPPER Filed March 5, 1953 INVENTOR. R. .SCf/UMANN,

l4 W/QENC E United States Patent DISPLAY WRAPPER Lawrence R. Schumann, Boston, Mass assignor to Star Brush Manufacturing Co. Inc., Boston, Mass., a corporation of New York Application March 5, 1953, Serial No. 340,493

2 Claims. (Cl. 20615.1)

This invention relates generally to a wrapper for paint brushes or the like and particularly discloses such a wrap per designed to enhance the appearance of an article such as a paint brush when displayed for sale as well as to act as a protective wrapper for the brush during handling and display and in later storage of the brush by the user.

When a paint brush is displayed for sale as in a store or the like it is highly desirable that the bristles of the brush be made visible so that the length, quality, thicknessrand other characteristics of the bristles may be appraised by prospective customers. At the same time it is desirable that the bristles be protected against inadvertent bending and breaking while the brush is on display or is being examined and handled by a prospective buyer.

Moreover when a paint brush is used in the normal manner it is of course necessary to clean it by suitable liquids after use. The brush is then left to dry pending further use. During the time of drying and storage the bristles of the brush should be somewhat guided and confined so that when the brush is thoroughly dry and ready for re-use all the bristles will lie in substantially parallel orientation.

The wrapper of the present invention is admirably adapted to meet the above needs and in its preferred form is made of a single piece of thin material such as a pasteboard, glazed paper, plastic or sheet metal. The wrapper includes a front panel which may be substantially rectangular in shape and is adapted to extend across one face of the base of a brush and the lower portion of the bristles carried by the base. Side wall panels are connected to opposed sides of the front panel and the side wall panels are provided with upwardly extending wings or ears which project to a height roughly even with the ends of the bristles. Rear panels are suitably connected to the side wall panels and desirably include means permitting the rear panels to be selectively interengaged or fastened together. In this way the rear panels, when fastened, together with the side wall panels and the front panel constitute a wrapper extending around the base of a brush and the lower portion of the bristles. Desirably also a bottom flap may be foldably connected to the front panel, the bottom flap being adapted toextend across the bottom of the base of the brush and including a foldable tab for retaining the bottom flap in position, the tab extending upwardly in juxtaposed relation with the rear panels.

In a preferred form of the invention for use with a brush having a conventional cylindrical handle, the bottom flap may be provided with an aperture or opening formed therein through which such a handle may extend. I may provide in either the front or rear panels a small inspection port or window by which a prospective buyer can immediately see the length of the bristles as Well as the type of ferrule or other binding means used to hold the bristles in the base. For certain instances it may be desirable to add a thin protective strip of sheet material across the outermost ends of the bristles, such strip ex- 2,763,367 Patented Sept. 18,. 1956.

tending between the outermost tips of the upstanding wings or ears and being fastened by suitable adhesive means to such tips.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a novel display wrapper for a paint brush or the like made of a single piece of thin sheet material.

A further object of the invention is to. provide such a device aiiording a view of the bristles of the brush with which the device is used as well as affording protection against damage to such bristles during storage, handling and display.

Another object of the invention is to provide a brush wrapper of the above character which may be reused throughout the life of the brush proper and which increases the life and utility of a brush when so used.

Yet another object is to disclose a display wrapper for a brush permitting a person to see and feel the bristles of the brush but at the same time minimizing bending or breaking of the bristles.

A further object is to disclose a brush wrapper having the above advantages which is extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

These and other allied objects of the invention will become clear from a reading of the following description of preferred embodiments thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a paint brush with a display wrapper according to my invention mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on a somewhat enlarged scale taken on line 11-11 of Fig. 1, the brush handle being shown fragmentarily in dotted outline.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of only the display wrapper taken on line III-III of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a blank made of cardboard, thin sheet metal, or the like from which my display wrapper may be formed.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of display wrapper according to my invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in Fig. l is shown a conventional paint brush having upwardly extending bristles indicated generally at 10, the bristles being permanently mounted at their lower ends in a suitable rigid base member 11 and the brush including a cylindrical handle indicated generally at 12 extending downwardly from the base of the brush. The details of con.- struction of the brush including the mounting of the bristles in the base are not shown in detail herein since they are conventional in every respect, are well known in the art and form no part of the present invention.

A brush wrapper indicated generally at 15 may be made of any suitable thin sheet material such as pasteboard, laminated or glazed paper, a thin plastic or metal, such material being preferably easily foldable as will be understood. Desirably, the display wrapper i5 is formed of a single blank of the selected material, an illustrative blank being shown in the lay-out view of Fig. 4. As there shown, the wrapper includes a central, substantially rectangular front panel 20 having a rectilinear upper edge 22 and a lower margin 24 desirably parallel to the upper edge. The lateral boundaries of the front panel 20 are provided by transversely extending foldable lines of juncture 26 and 28 with symmetrically disposed side wall panels 30 and 32. The side wall panels are provided with upwardly extending wings or ears 34 and 36 respectively, and preferably each of the ears includes a somewhat widened base 38 and 40, respectively, in order to afford added strength to the completed wrapper.

Rear wall panels 42 and 44 are foldably connected to the side wall panels 30, and 32 repectively along lines of juncture 46 and 48, the latter lines of juncture being preferably parallel to the lines of juncture 26 and 28 previously referred to. The height of the rear panels 42 and 44 is preferably substantially equal to the height of the central rectangular front panel 20, the rear panels being bounded by upper edges 49 and 50 colinear with upper edge 22 of the front panel and by lower edges 51 and 52 colinear with the lower margin 24 of the front panel 20.

The rear panels 42 and 44 are provided with mutually interengageable means for fastening said rear-panels together when they have been wrapped around a brush as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. In the present illustration, such fastening means include a downwardly projecting hook-like extension 54 carried on an enlarged end portion or nose 55 of one of the rear panels such as 42, the extension 54 being partially defined by an indentation 56. The fastening means also include in the other rear wall panel 44 a slot or cut 58, preferably disposed angularly as shown with its lower end 59 spaced further from the line of juncture 48 than is the upper end 60 of the slot.

A bottom flap 62 is foldingly connected to the front panel 20 along the lower margin 24, such margin constituting a foldable line of juncture between the front panel 20 and the bottom flap 62. A retaining tab 64 may be foldably connected to bottom flap 62 along a line of juncture 66, this line of juncture being parallel to the foldable line 24. When the display wrapper of the present invention is used in conjunction with a brush having a conventional cylindrical handle such as is indicated at 12 in Fig. l, I provide in bottom flap 62 an aperture or opening 68 through which may extend such handle 12 when the wrapper is mounted upon a brush.

As is best shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the front panel 20 and rear panels 42 and 44 extend across the front and rear, respectively, of the base of a brush as well as across the lower portions of the bristles of the brush. Desirably, the upper edges 22, 49 and 50 of these panels are spaced well below the uppermost tips of the bristles 10 so that a substantial portion of such bristles may be felt or otherwise examined by a prospective puchaser when the display wrapper is in position. Desirably also, the upper edges 22, 49 and 50 are spaced somewhat above the plane at which the bristles 10 emerge from base 11 so that the front panel and rear panels 42 and 44 cooperate in bracing the lower portion of the bristles and prevent the bristles from being bent in their lower extent immediately above the base 11. The upwardly projecting ears 34 and 36 of the respective side walls panels and 32 extend substantially above the aforementioned upper edges 22, 49 and 50 of the front and rear panels and preferably extend to virtually the same height as that of the bristles 10. Thus, any tendency for the bristles at either end of the brush to bend over or be broken is overcome and the bristles are held in normal position during storage, handling and while on display.

In order to permit a prospective buyer to quickly ascertain the type of construction of base 11 and the total length of brisles 10, I may provide in either the front wall panel or in a rear wall panel an inspection port or window intermediate the upper and lower edges or margins of said panels. In the present illustration, such a port or wind-ow is shown at 70 in the rear wall panel 42 and is desirably disposed, as above mentioned, so that it extends over a portion of the base of the brush as well as the lower extent of the bristles 10. Thus a person examining the brush may, without removing the display wrapper, immediately learn the length of the bristles as well as the type of ferrule or other binding means used in the brush construction.

Under certain circumstances it may be desirable to provide means protecting the outermost tips of bristles of a brush, and a display wrapper affording such additional protection is readily made by adding a narrow strip of material to the wrapper, the strip extending between the upper tips of the wings or rears of my wrapper. Such a form of the invention is shown in Fig. 5, where a narrow strip 76 of thin sheet material is attached at each of its ends 78 and 79 to the upper ends of ears 34 and 36 respectively, such attachment being accomplished by cement, glue or other suitable adhesive. Preferably the strip 76 is made of the same material as that selected for the wrapper proper, and if thin sheet metal or foil is used, the strip may be attached to the ears as by spot welding. It will of course, be understood that all other features of the invention as shown in Fig. 1 may be incorporated in the embodiment shown in Fig. 5 although such features are not again described here in the interests of conciseness.

In assembling the wrapper on a brush having a cylindrical handle as shown in Fig. 1, the handle is first inserted through the aperture 68 of the bottom flap 62. The wrapper is then folded on the line 24 so that the front panel 20 extends adjacent one face of the base of the brush, and the tab 64 is folded upwardly to lie adjacent the opposite face of the base. The side and rear panels may now be wrapped around the brush base, and the interengaging means on the rear panels fastened together by inserting the hook-like portion 54 of rear panel 42 through the inclined slot 58 formed in the other rear panel 44. The wrapper is now securely in place, but at the same time a large porportion of the length of the bristles 10 is exposed for display purposes while being braced and strengthened by the wrapper against accidental bending and breakage. Removal of the wrapper is of course accomplished by a reversal of the above operations.

It will be seen that when my Wrapper is made of strong and lasting sheet material, it will prove advantageous and useful to the user quite aside from its advantages during storage and original display. When the brush has been thoroughly cleaned and washed after use,

it may be put away for storage in the wrapper of the' present invention, and the bristles will thereby be confined and trained to lie in their proper parallel positions so that the brush is immediately ready for re-use when desired.

In any of the materials used for forming the blank shown in Fig. 4, I preferably score such material along the several fold lines therein shown in order to facilitate assembling the wrapper around the brush.

Many modifications and changes from the specific forms herein shown and described will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the contemplation of the present invention. The upward extent of the flanking wings or ears, for example, is preferably virtually even with the tips of the bristles, but such upward extent may be varied appreciably above or below that point without seriously impairing the efficacy of the wrapper in protecting the bristles. The inspection port or window may be formed in either of the rear panels, in the front panel or even in one of the side wall panels if desired, or it may be dispensed with entirely.

Although the front and rear panels are preferably in substantially rectangular form, as herein shown, with rectilinear upper and lower margins or edges, nevertheless the edges may be made somewhat curvilinear in shape for certain applications; for example, the upper edges of the front and rear panels may be arcuate in shape, concaved upwardly. All forms of the invention, however, are characterized by upwardly projecting ears carried'by and preferably integral with the side wall panels, the ears projecting well above the upper edge of the front and rear panels.

These and other modifications and changes not departing from the spirit of the invention are intended to be embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a brush having a base and bristles projecting upwardly from the upper edge of the base, a wrapper made of thin sheet material and having a front panel bounded by vertically extending lines of juncture, a transverse upper edge and a rectilinear lower margin perpendicular to said lines of juncture, the transverse edge of the panel being disposed intermediate the length of the bristles above the upper edge of the base; a pair of side panels foldably connected to said front panel along said lines of juncture and including integrally formed upwardly extending ears projecting to virtually the tips of the bristles; rear panels foldably connected to the side panels along lines of juncture paralleling the first-named lines of juncture and provided with selectively interengageable fastening means; and a bottom flap foldably connected to said front panel along the lower margin thereof and provided with a foldable tab connected to the flap along 'a line of juncture paralleling said margin.

2. The invention as stated in claim 1 wherein one of said panels is provided with an inspection port in horizontal alignment with the upper edge of the brush base.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,164,868 Redman Dec. 21, 1915 1,931,293 Morck Oct. 17, 1933 1,998,542 Horrell Apr. 23, 1935 2,190,696 Brune Feb. 20, 1940 2,300,845 Raszewski Nov. 3, 1942 2,331,188 Head Oct. 5, 1943 

